Unless i have missed it, except for a minor comment by Robb Gordon, no one has talked about the most lasting effect of the ACBL's misguided rule change to allow NT openings with a singleton A, K or Q.

I don't know about YOUR bridge club, but this rule change is all the talk at the two major bridge clubs on Long Island. Now, all the club players think that it is SMART to open 1NT with 15-17 with a stiff honor WHENEVER YOU HAVE ONE , when it is not--especially not in the hands of the club players.

Drew Casen has in my mind stated the correct reason for opening 1NT with a stiff(honor)--making a "least-worst" attempt at handing difficult hands with 1-4-4-4, 1-4-3-5, 1-4-5-3 and 1-3-4-5 and 15-16 HCP. But all the club players have heard is not that they CAN open INT with stiff A K or Q but that they SHOULD. What the ruling is gonna promulgate are opening 1NT bids on the likes of:

A

Qxx

AQxxx

Axxx

Obviously opening 1NT on a stiff K has the most to recommend, since it might well win a trick opposite xxx, provide a second stopper vs Qxx and the like. A stiff Q gains in fewer cases and Opening 1NT with a stiff ace has no positional advantage.

So, it's bad enough the rule change tries to tell experts how to value their hand, but much worse is that it gives club and other players a false reason for making bad bids. Maybe the toothpaste is already out of the tube, but at least we can point out the real mess it will make.

This contains content that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.

Spam

This is effectively an advertisement with no disclosure. It is not useful or relevant to the current conversation.

Other (additional description required)

This requires general moderator attention based on the Community Guidelines, Terms of Service, or for another reason not listed above.

Select a reason and click "Flag Post" to flag this for review. You may provide an optional (required if choosing other) description of why you find this objectionable. You may also wish to send a private message to to request him or her to edit or remove the .